Members must all vote in the upcoming Teamster election
August 6, 2021
By Rome Aloise —
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Convention just ended. Unfortunately, it was not the normal week in Las Vegas with 2,000 sisters and brothers, but rather it was a virtual, zoom-based three-day convention. In the end, the business of our union was handled and dispensed with successfully, and the nominations for the International General Executive Board were held and completed.
Overall, and surprisingly to me, the technology actually functioned pretty well, and the voting and discussions on proposals, amendments, and resolutions went relatively smoothly. The IBT staff and vendors who worked on putting this together should be commended for doing a great job under very difficult circumstances.
For the next few months, we will be involved in the campaign for a new administration at the IBT. Ballots will go out sometime in October, and the count will be held in mid-November.
I ask each member to investigate who is best equipped to run our union in the future, and who will help our local unions represent our members and their families in the best way possible. Hopefully, your local union will be constantly reminding you to vote, vote, vote when the ballot is mailed to your house.
As you will see elsewhere in this edition, I was honored to participate in a celebration of Allan Baird’s life and his incredible ability to bring people together. Allan, the former president of Teamsters Local 921, was key to establishing a coalition of striking Teamster beer delivery drivers with Harvey Milk, who brought in the LGTBQ community to help boycott Coors beer. I was happy to see Allan and present him with a plaque from our Joint Council.
Enjoy the rest of the summer. Hopefully, with things opening up and work coming back, we will have the rest of the year to get back to normal and to do it with everyone being vaccinated so that we protect ourselves, our families, and our sisters and brothers we work with.
